Deck 2: Research Methods in Sociological Social Psychology

Question 1

Grounded theory is:

A)a byproduct of the quantitative research process
B)a set of suppositions about the way the world works rooted in common sense
C)associated with the group processes and structure face of sociological social psychology
D)developed out of data using inductive reasoning
E)often used to explain patterned behaviors that are difficult to document outside of the laboratory

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Triangulation refers to:

A)the implementation of new measures and their evaluation
B)the interplay between subjects and their objective and subjective realities
C)the process through which the benefits to subjects, researchers, and the college or university associated with a particular study are maximized
D)the use of multiple methods to validate a study's findings
E)the various components of the research process, including the selection of subjects, measures, and method

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The research cycle in sociological social psychology:

A)emphasizes quantitative over qualitative research
B)focuses on applications over outcomes
C)involves both deductive and inductive reasoning
D)is the process through which research findings are applied to particular topics
E)pertains to research in SSP and SI but not to research in GPS

Answer 3

C

Question 4

In the Tuskegee syphilis study, the U.S. Public Health Service studied the progress of syphilis in African Americans. This study is considered highly unethical by today's standards because the study participants:

A)were evaluated by pseudonurses and other untrained medical professionals
B)were given penicillin, the treatment for syphilis, even if they were allergic to the drug
C)were paid enough to make them unwilling to withdraw from the study even when the medical procedures they were subjected to were painful
D)weren't paid for their time, despite the fact that testing took place over years
E)weren't told they had syphilis and were denied the treatment that would have cured them

Question 5

The committees that review and subsequently approve research proposals that don't violate subjects' rights are called:

A)School Faculty and Staff Control Units (FSCUs)
B)Research Ethics Groups (REGs)
C)Human Rights Panels (HRPs)
D)Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
E)Investigation Control Committees (ICCs)

Question 6

The main ethical issue in experimental research pertains to:

A)confidentiality
B)how much subjects are paid when the researcher has received funding for the study
C)how other researchers use the study results
D)where the study results are reported
E)the use of deception

Question 7

Debriefing is the term used to refer to the process during which:

A)covert participant observers reveal their identity, their institutional affiliation, and the purpose of their research to the study participants
B)experimenters explain the true purpose of the study to their subjects and address any concerns they might have about having participated in the research
C)research assistants, who are typically graduate students, voice their concerns about the research process to their faculty advisors
D)subjects are asked to submit an anonymous statement to the IRB of the school sponsoring the study they participated in for quality control purposes
E)survey researchers tell study participants about the study purpose and ask them to sign an informed consent statement

Question 8

The main ethical issue in survey research pertains to:

A)confidentiality
B)how much subjects are paid when the researcher has received funding for the study
C)how other researchers use the study results
D)where the study results are reported
E)the use of deception

Question 9

Which method of data collection is rarely used these days because of concerns about subjects' rights?

A)covert nonparticipant observation
B)covert participant observation
C)community survey
D)in-depth interviewing
E)overt participant observation

Question 10

One advantage of covert nonparticipant observation is that researchers:

A)are able to gain access to personal information about the lives of participants
B)can collect data without having to get the approval of an IRB
C)can readily alternate between a variety of research settings
D)don't to have to worry about reliability
E)don't know the identities of their participants

Question 11

Snowball sampling involves:

A)asking study participants for their informed consent after an initial set of findings have been compiled
B)borrowing subjects who fit the study criteria from one or more other studies
C)increasing the representativeness of a sample by randomly selecting subjects from a list of individuals identified as aloof or cold in their self-presentations
D)motivating subjects to participate in a study through the use of a tiered system of rewards (e.g., monetary payments)
E)obtaining new study participants through individuals who have already agreed to participate in the study

Question 12

In Hurst's study of working-class college students, Renegades:

A)distanced themselves from their family members and childhood friends
B)planned to give back to their home communities after they graduated from college
C)showed a sophisticated understanding of the class structure within the United States
D)were highly valued members of the community because of their entrepreneurial spirits
E)were, on average, happier than Loyalists

Question 13

Which of the following studies best illustrates the construction of grounded theory?

A)GPS research on the effects of gender and education on task group performance
B)Humphreys' study of homosexual encounters among men in public restrooms
C)Hurst's qualitative analysis of working-class college students
D)Research on the relationship between income and happiness
E)SSP research on the consequences of teen employment

Question 14

In overt participant observation:

A)in-depth interviewing is replaced with conversation analysis
B)study participants are often unaware that they are being studied
C)subjects usually come to the lab or some other enclosed study setting
D)the researcher lets people know that he or she is there to study them
E)the setting of the study is negotiated by the researcher and a core group of participants

Question 15

A flag is a symbol of

A)the nation for which it stands
B)dividing the world into discrete geopolitical units known as nations
C)distinguishing one nation from all others
D)all of the above
E)imperialist hegemony

Question 16

In covert participant observation:

A)in-depth interviewing is replaced with conversation analysis
B)study participants are unaware that they are being studied
C)subjects usually come to the lab or some other enclosed study setting
D)the researcher lets people know that he or she is there to study them
E)the setting of the study is negotiated by the researcher and a core group of participants

Question 17

A flag is a symbol of

A)the nation for which it stands
B)dividing the world into discrete geopolitical units known as nations
C)distinguishing one nation from all others
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 18

What method of data collection did Laud Humphrys use in his study of homosexual encounters among men in public restrooms, published as the book Tearoom Trade?

A)covert nonparticipant observation
B)covert participant observation
C)community survey
D)in-depth interviewing
E)overt participant observation

Question 19

In his study, titled Tearoom Trade, Laud Humphreys found that men who engaged in fleeting sexual encounters with other men in public restrooms:

A)had a higher-than-average rate of unemployment
B)had few characteristics that distinguished them from men who did not engage in this behavior
C)often lived alone
D)were more likely to self-identify as bisexual than as straight or gay
E)usually defined themselves as gay

Question 20

Suppose that you wanted to study the home lives of high school students from upper-class backgrounds. In particular, you are interested in finding out how these students' relationships with family members shape their college aspirations. What method of data collection would you use in your study?

A)covert participant observation
B)covert nonparticipant observation
C)in-depth interviews
D)overt participant observation
E)survey

Question 21

Which method of data collection did social psychologist Allison Hurst use in her study of working-class college students, discussed in Chapter 2?

A)covert participant observation
B)covert nonparticipant observation
C)in-depth interviews
D)overt participant observation
E)survey

Question 22

Why are secondary data analyses relatively free from ethical problems?

A)The data on which they are based aren't available to researchers until all study participants are deceased.
B)The research findings they generate aren't presented or published in public arenas.
C)The large samples used in this kind of research allow for anonymity on the part of subjects.
D)The researcher doesn't actually collect any data.
E)The researcher isn't aware of where or when the data were collected.

Question 23

O'Brien quotes Albert Einstein as saying that "It is the theory that determines what we can observe." What does this mean, as written? How might it be interpreted more generally (i.e. beyond the world of theory & research)?

Question 24

What is the fundamental attribution error (of individualism)? Why is this a problem for sociology?

Question 25

Why does research in the symbolic interactionist face of sociological social psychology typically involve the use of use participant observation or in-depth interviews? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this type of research.

Question 26

Describe how you might go about conducting a participant observational study of college students' friendships. Would your study be covert or overt in nature? Explain your rationale for choosing to present yourself to the study participants in this way. Evaluate the external validity of your hypothetical study's results.

Question 27

What is internal validity? What would you say if someone asked you to evaluate the internal validity of a participant observational study of college students' friendships? (Note. This question may be combined with question 12 for a more comprehensive assessment of students' understanding of the nature and purpose of participant observational research.)

Question 28

Compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative research focusing on three issues: validity, reliability, and generalizability.

Question 29

Discuss the link between face of sociological social psychology and methodology. In doing so, identify the method or methods of data collection used most frequently within each face of sociological social psychology and why this method/these methods is/are favored over others.

Question 30

Why do some social psychologists use multiple research methods? Discuss the value of using multiple methods of data collection when conducting a study. Discuss the value of using multiple research methods within the field of social psychology more generally.

Question 31

How is knowledge about people's social experiences generated? Describe the research cycle within sociological social psychology, emphasizing how the interplay between quantitative and qualitative research contributes to the creation of knowledge about human social behavior.

Question 32

Describe the various ethical issues sociological social psychologists face when conducting research and discuss how these issues vary with the method of data collection used. Discuss the function of Institutional Review Boards and the measures sociological social psychologists take to protect their subjects.

Question 33

When are sociological social psychologists likely to use covert nonparticipant observation as a method of data collection? Compare this research method to covert participant observation, emphasizing its relative strengths and weaknesses.

Question 34

List and describe the two kinds of qualitative research discussed in Chapter 2 of your textbook. When are these methods of data collection likely to be used?

Question 35

Describe how you would conduct an experiment on the effects of a status characteristic, such as gender or education, on susceptibility of social influence. Who would you use as subjects? Why is the random assignment of subjects to different groups important within this context? Evaluate the internal and external validity of your hypothetical study's results.

Question 36

What is reductionism? How does it hinder our ability to understand social life? Please include an example.

Question 37

List and describe the two kinds of quantitative research discussed in Chapter 2. When are these methods of data collection likely to be used?

Question 38

What is a response rate? Why is it important for researchers to have a high response rate when they're conducting survey research?

Question 39

Why are internal validity and external validity important? Evaluate the relative strengths of surveys and experiments, focusing on the internal validity and the external validity of the results they generate.

Question 40

Why does the use of random assignment ensure that the results of an experiment will be high in internal validity?

Question 41

What is time order? When is time order likely to be a problem in survey research? What can survey researchers do to address this issue?

Question 42

Suppose that you conducted a survey and found a positive correlation between drinking wine, versus drinking beer, and health. Given the results of your study, can you conclude that drinking wine instead of beer makes people healthy? Explain why this conclusion is or is not appropriate.

Question 43

Why does research in the social structure and personality face of sociological social psychology typically involve the analysis of survey data? Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this type of research.

Question 44

Why does research in the group processes and structures face of sociological social psychology tend to be experimental? Compare and contrast experimental research in the group processes and structures face of sociological social psychology with experimental research in psychological social psychology.

Question 45

Which method of data collection in sociological social psychology do you think is the most ethically problematic? Why do you believe this to be the case? Should contemporary researchers be allowed to use this method of data collection? Support your position.

Question 46

Qualitative research tends to be higher in validity than quantitative research.

Question 47

If college students' grades decrease as their levels of alcohol consumption increase, then alcohol consumption and grades:

A)are causally related
B)are negatively related
C)are positively related
D)have been triangulated
E)have been validated

Question 48

If drinking alcohol reduces college students' grades, then alcohol use is a(n):

A)dependent variable
B)independent variable
C)nonrandom variable
D)operational variable
E)spurious variable

Question 49

If a researcher wanted to study the effect of class size on course evaluations, his or her dependent variable would be:

A)the professor's gender
B)class size
C)determined by random assignment
D)the content of the course evaluations
E)all of the above

Question 50

A social psychologist decides to measure popularity by adding up survey respondents' answers to the following four questions.
How many friends would you say that you have? ________
How many texts on your cell phone do you receive from friends during an average day? _______
How many emails from friends do you receive during an average day? ______
How many phone calls do you receive from friends during an average day? ______
This type of measure is called:

A)an independent variable
B)an index
C)an indicator
D)a spurious variable
E)a variable set

Question 51

The average score on a variable (e.g., a measure of delinquency) among a study sample is called the:

A)mean
B)parameter
C)peak value
D)point estimate
E)standard deviation

Question 52

Study results are reliable when they:

A)are accurate
B)are consistent across different groups of individuals (e.g., males and females) within a study sample
C)can be replicated
D)generalize beyond the study sample
E)lead to new research questions

Question 53

Which face of sociological social psychology includes research on income and happiness?

A)group conflict
B)group processes and structures
C)social structure and personality
D)symbolic interactionism
E)psychological

Question 54

Kahneman and Deaton's (2010) study, discussed in Chapter 2, suggests that increasing people's income will increase their levels of emotional well-being until they reach an annual income of ___________. After this point, further increases on income have little effect on emotional well-being.

A)25000
B)50000
C)75000
D)100000
E)150000

Question 55

A sample is representative of a population when:

A)at least half of the population is selected into the sample
B)a study has a high response rate
C)the individuals in the sample are as diverse as the individuals in the population
D)the sample is composed of over 1,000 individuals
E)the researcher selects one new participant for every potential participant who opts not to take part in the study

Question 56

Operational definitions:

A)are constructed through face-to-face interaction
B)are the perceptions of subjects that change over the course of a study
C)are used primarily by researchers working within the group processes and structures orientation
D)tend to be high in validity but low in reliability
E)specify how variables will be measured

Question 57

A theory is a:

A)hypothesis that stimulates research but cannot itself be tested
B)product of the quantitative research process
C)series of statements that guides the qualitative research process
D)set of cause-and-effect statements that can be tested with data
E)world view or orientation toward the world

Question 58

Standing outside of a local grocery store and interviewing people who walk by is a good way to obtain a representative sample of people in your community.

Question 59

Selecting study participants at random from the population of interest is especially important when using a laboratory experiment to collect data.

Question 60

In comparison to the results of surveys, the results of experiments tend to be high in external validity.

Question 61

Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment is a good example of a study in psychological social psychology because it shows that the behaviors exhibited by guards and prisoners in a mock prison setting are largely a function of individual personality characteristics.

Question 62

Ethnographic research is virtually identical in focus to survey research conducted over the Internet.

Question 63

The construction of grounded theory involves inductive reasoning.

Question 64

Spurious relationships are often a problem in qualitative research.

Question 65

Participant observation is often used to study how people construct meanings through their face-to-face interactions.

Question 66

Historically, there have been very few, if any, instances in which researchers in this country have violated the rights of their subjects.

Question 67

If you downloaded data from the 2010 General Social Survey (GSS) and analyzed it for a paper on income and happiness, you would be conducting a(n):

A)experimental analysis
B)longitudinal analysis
C)partial data analysis
D)primary data analysis
E)secondary data analysis

Question 68

Which method of data collection allows researchers to determine with a high degree of certainty whether an independent and dependent variable are causally related?

A)covert nonparticipant observation
B)experiment
C)overt participant observation
D)secondary data analysis
E)survey

Question 69

Which of the following methods of data collection involves the manipulation of an independent
Variable by the researcher?

A)covert nonparticipant observation
B)experiment
C)overt participant observation
D)secondary data analysis
E)survey

Question 70

Which of the following methods of data collection is the most likely to yield results high in internal validity?

A)experiment
B)in-depth interviews
C)participant observation (ethnographic or field research)
D)secondary data analysis
E)survey

Question 71

Internal validity is high when a researcher can conclude with certainty that:

A)an independent variable causes a dependent variable
B)results generalize from the study sample to a target population
C)the results of a study apply across social categories (e.g., males/females, racial/ethnic
D)minorities/Whites, working-/middle-class individuals)
E)the results of a study are consistent with the results of prior research on a particular
F) topic
G) both b and c

Question 72

External validity is a(n) ____________ issue.

A)analytical
B)causality
C)measurement
D)statistical
E)sampling

Question 73

External validity refers to:

A)the degree to which a survey question measures what it is attempting to measure
B)the degree to which experimental results are due to the effect of the independent
C)variable
D)the extent to which a study's findings are generalizable to other individuals in other settings
E)the level of consistency between measures of a given social phenomenon
F) the level of consistency in findings across research studies

Question 74

Psychologist Kimberly Young, whose research on Internet addiction was discussed at the beginning of Chapter 2, argues that over half of all college students suffer poor grades due to excessive Internet use. This may or may not be true. Young's research findings are based on nonrepresentative samples and may thus lack:

A)external validity
B)internal validity
C)methodological empathy
D)time order
E)longitudinal persistence

Question 75

While quantitative methods are used to test hypotheses, qualitative methods are used to:

A)compare theories
B)describe people's experiences
C)enhance the reliability of prior studies
D)test theories
E)validate new measures of variables

Question 76

Which of the following statements about qualitative research methods is FALSE?

A)Qualitative methods are often used by researchers working in the symbolic interactionist face of social psychology.
B)Qualitative methods include participant observation and in-depth interviewing.
C)Qualitative methods yield findings that are more reliable than those obtained using laboratory experiments or surveys.
D)Qualitative research is considered to yield results that are more valid than those obtained through quantitative research.
E)Qualitative research serves a different purpose than quantitative research.

Question 77

Sociological social psychologists define a subculture as a:

A)coculture, or a culture within a culture, with an emphasis on the equal standing of different groups within society
B)fictional group in an unusual situation, like the characters in the television program Lost
C)group within society whose members are relatively unconstrained due to weak group norms
D)group within society with values and norms that differ from the dominant culture
E)set of beliefs and norms within a given society that pertain to a particular topic or behavior (e.g., murder)

Question 78

______________________ is the main goal of researchers working in the symbolic interactionist face of sociological social psychology.

A)Comparing patterns of perception and behavior across groups
B)Creating valid measures of key variables
C)Establishing causal relationships
D)Getting a representative sample so that results can be generalized
E)Understanding the perspectives and experiences of the individuals being studied

Question 79

It difficult to assess causality using survey data because:

A)cross-sectional (vs. longitudinal) data are rarely available
B)it is difficult to determine if there is a correlation between the independent and dependent variable
C)people tend to lie on surveys
D)random assignment is not used in survey research
E)using the appropriate sampling techniques is too costly for most survey researchers

Question 80

Social structure and personality researchers are interested in establishing causal relationships, but they rarely use experiments as a method of data collection. Why is this?

A)People won't volunteer to be in an experiment when they know it focuses on gender, race/ethnicity, or social class.
B)SSP researchers can't manipulate the independent variables they're interested in.
C)SSP researchers aren't interested in the effects of one variable on another.
D)SSP researchers are especially concerned about the consequences of deceiving their subjects.
E)The samples used in SSP research are too large to analyze experimentally.